Parexel International Corp. (NSDQ:PRXL) opened up a new facility for early-phase studies in patients in South Africa, adding to its presence in that country and increasing its capacity worldwide.
The Waltham, Mass.-based contract research organization’s early-phase studies business provides a range of clinical testing studies for medical devices and drug compounds from first-in-man through proof-of-concept studies. Parexel has more than 580 beds in four countries in North America, the United Kingdom, Germany and South Africa. The new 40-bed facility in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, is the third facility in that country, according to a
press release.
The expansion might signal that the company is thinking more positively these days, after releasing glum projections last October.
In January, the Boston-based contract research organization boosted its outlook for 2010, predicting profits of between $35 million and about $40.5 million on between $1.12 billion and $1.15 billion in revenues.
The revised figures bumped revenues for both the recently concluded fiscal second quarter and calendar 2010 by up to $10 million from earlier forecasts. The predicted six-cent- to eight-cent-per-share second-quarter gain reverses a like-sized loss in previous prognostications, but does not include costs connected with a company restructuring begun last summer, expected to whittle about 15 cents per share from the results.